Dave’s loot from Randalls

My husband came home tonight after making a run to the grocery store to score the Randalls deals.  He got all this for about $35 and left with catalinas for $20 off next purchase… so the net was $15!  OK Melissa, TAG… SEE IF YOU CAN BEAT THIS ONE.  I know I’ll regret that challenge:)  She is the Michael Jordon of couponing… but it sure is fun trying…

Soup tonight – yum yum

I had the best soup tonight.  Earlier I was reading the latest posts at gourmetmamma and was motivated to make soup.  You should stop by her blog if you need motivation to cook.  She has the best food photography.  She had modified a chicken tortellini soup to chicken and rice soup.  Since I had tortellini I opted to use this pasta.  I also used turkey instead of chicken.  And I also drizzled the soup with balsamic vinegar when I served.  Dave never jumps up and down when I tell him soup is for dinner, but he was genuinely impressed with this dish.  I also pulled out homemade wheat rolls from the freezer.  Thanks gourmetmamma!

Great grocerystore / CVS deals

Randalls is having a deal where you spend $30 on certain items and get $10 coupon toward you next purchase at Randalls.  I had 6  coupons for electrasol and did this deal (added a couple of other items to get $30).  When he heard about it, especially after talking to Melissa at makingcentsintexas, he went crazy.  He ordered coupons ($2.50) off ebay and has made his own trip to stock up on these.  Yesterday he got a chatty checker.

• checker:  Looks like someone is gonna be doing a lot of dishes
• Dave:  Yes, we have a lot of kids.
• checker:  that will be $34 dollars
• Dave:  hands her 8 $2.50 coupons and a $10 certificate.
• checker:  hmmmm… that will be $2.08
• checker:  looks like we have someone trying to game the system (as she gives him a $10 certficiate toward his next visit)
• Dave:  I prefer to call it optimizing the system
• crowded line behind Dave:  dying with laughter

We also did the deal for Bertolli Sauce and saved a ton.  We had $1 off coupons and used them with the spend $30/get $10 Randalls deal.  Everything in this pic was $11.49 and we got a $10 certificate for our next purchase… so the net was $1.49.

On Monday I hit CVS and Krogers and spent about $25.  Part of this was with coupons and the other was using a CVS gift card from transferred prescriptions.  In this Krogers ad, there is a $25 coupon for transfers.  I dropped off a transfer today and grabbed several of their weekly ads for the coupons.

Note in the CVS pic all the makeup.  I can’t believe how expensive drugstore makeup is without deals and coupons.  The Revlon blush is $13.99!  I haven’t shopped department store makeup in years so I can’t imagine how much thiese products must be.

To see what other folks found this week, see http://www.southernsavers.com/ and www.moneysavingmom.com.

Update from your Survival Friend

OK.  I’m starting to take this flu thing more seriously.  Not because I think the strain itself will be deadly, but because I see schools which we are zoned closing.  I can now envision Houston shutting down… similar to Mexico City.  I’m not totally convinced of this yet, but things are progressing quickly.

I recommend you have at least 2 weeks of food in your home.   Prepare like you would for a hurricane because this is similar to a hurricane in many ways.  If we see a storm in the gulf that could hit us, we start getting ready before we know where it will make landfall.  Like a hurricane, if you wait until things get crazy (which they may not) it will be too late.  You can’t get bottled water one hour before the hurricane and you probably will not be able to buy flu meds if this virus were to seriously spread.

Start taking vitamins daily.

I also recommend you buy food that is easy to prepare like can soup, cereal, saltine crackers, can fruit, etc.  Also get plenty of water, juice or whatever else you drink.  If you have a baby, make sure you have plenty of diapers.  Also check your cleaning supplies and be stocked up on these items.

And don’t forget the pets.  Make sure you have plenty of pet food in the house so you don’t have to make a special trip for these items.

Lastly, don’t forget toilet tissue, paper towels, paper plates, garbage bags and other disposable items.  If you and your family become ill, these will be worth gold.

What else are you doing?

More on the swine flu – which mask should I wear???

I have to go to the grocery store.  Which mask should I wear?  I mentioned in my earlier post we had already gotten masks…. just didn’t tell you what kind.  At the request of Melissa, here are the pics.  Now you’ll really think I’m weird?  I like the first one b/c it doesn’t mess up the big bleached blonde (box) hair!

This????

Or no one would notice me in this mask???

My reaction to Swine Flu

I’ve come out of the closet in other emails that I’m a survivalist.  Before the flu came out in the news, I had already purchased face masks and had stocked up on meds.  In fact, just days before this story broke on the news my friend and I were discussing preparing for a pandemic.

When I look at disasters that may impact our lives, pandemic is on my list but I consider it one of the less probable to happen.  My preparations for other emergencies will help our family if we do have a pandemic, but I’m not laying awake at night worrying about the possibilities of this happening.

I’m not so sure this is going to be a big deal.  If the virus mutates and becomes more deadly I’ll get very concerned.  But for now, I’m watching thinking this is a ton of media hype.  Many are surprised at my take b/c I’m quick to jump on the doom/gloom bandwagon.  But I’m not there on this one yet.

I think I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t trust much coming out of our government or media.  So when the media blows it up, I start thinking they are in need of headlines.  The problem is if this isn’t the “big one”, next time it is we’ll be less likely to react.  We’ve seen this in Houston with hurricanes.  If we think the bad one is coming five times in a row and not much happens, then the 6th time it really hits – most people stay home thinking it was be just another storm.

I also think the government may be benefiting from this also in a warped kind of way.  I do not believe the conspiracy theories that government planted this virus.  However, we have major issues in our economy.  The public focus has been shifted from the economy to the “pandemic”.  Who knows what kind of legislation is getting passed while attention is distracted.  We’ve seen bad legislation happen during panics.

So what will our family do?  We watch to see if this gets worse.  We make sure we plenty of cleaners for personal hygiene and home hygiene.  We make sure we have enough food to stay in lock down if our area had a terrible outbreak.  It is the same preps we take for other unexpected emergencies whether man-made (terrorist) or natural disasters.

Yesterday I thought there was a reasonable response to the hysteria on the Survival Podcast.  You can listen here…  http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/swine-flu-h1n1-pandemic-risk

daily dialogue

Here’s a little of what our kids said today….

Today we visited a new church.  The topic of the sermon was adultery.  Afterwards a lady asked our Maggie how she liked the service.  Maggie (age 7) responded she already knew all about what the pastor preached about.  This drew a couple of double takes from the folks hearing this and they looked up at Dave…. hummmmm she knows all about adultery????  Then Memorizing Maggie proceeded to give them a verse by verse recitation of the 10 commandments from the King James Version.  Whew!

• Shea:  Momma….Bethany hit me!  as tears run down her face
• Mom:  Bethany… Did you hit her?
• Bethany:  Yes, she called me a porkchop meatloaf three times and I told her to stop.
• Mom:  Shea… Did you call Bethany a porkchop meatloaf???
• Shea:  Yes…. but Maggie taught me how to say it
• Mom:  Looks like you all three are in trouble

Randalls Loot

Randalls is having a great promo.  Spend $30 on select items and get $10 on next purchase.  Today I got the following and spent $40 and saved $76.  Thanks to my friend at MakingCentsinTexas for giving me the electrasol coupons… that is true friendship:)  I challenged her to a couponing competition with this Randalls deal and she is smokin me.  She saved 100% on one of her trips!  You can see pics at her site.

Be careful with the electrasol boxes.  Only get the ones marked with the living well promo that ring up at $3.99.  I accidently got 2 boxes that look very similar but rang up at $5.99.  I had to go to customer service and they gave me a $10 credit because they were also confused.  So I ended up getting the $10, but had to jump through hoops.

To see what other folks found this week, see http://www.southernsavers.com/ and www.moneysavingmom.com.

Here’s what I got today:

• Horizon Organic Milk
• Organic Soy milk
• 2 pounds of strawberries
• 3 jars pace fancy salsa
• 6 boxes of electrasol
• 7 boxes tea
• 3 boxes of hefty trash bags

Home Hair Highlights from a Box

I love joining Frugal Fridays.  But today I just didn’t have any frugal ideas and had planned to pass.  But I relearned a very frugal lesson today.  I’ve had my hair highlighted for years.  I have dark brown hair with dark blonde highlights….. until today.  Then THE BOX.

About every 5 years I get enough of going to the salon for highlights.  If you don’t have them… never start.  They are expensive and I’m addicted.  Today I got a frosting kit from CVS.  I had Bethany start pulling a few hairs through the cap and I had no patience for that.  I ripped off the cap and made my own foils.  I thought I could foil my own head.  I got about three done and had the highlight solution splattered all over my head.  Hmmm, I might as well rub this all over my head  (yes, not too smart for a woman with her doctorate).  I checked it after about 5 minutes and could see it turning this terrible color.  I washed it out quickly and found I had orange hair.

About that time, Dave calls to see how things are going at home.  I explain my situation and he urges me to GO GET IT FIXED!!!!!!  So I head to the salon and tell them I what I want.  Problem is they couldn’t because they said I’d look like a bumble bee with brown/yellow hair.   Instead, they needed to bleach out some of the orange and leave me light.   So looks like I’m blonde for a while.  They did a good job and now I can go out in public.   I wish I had a before and after pic with the orange hair.  But I did have an old pic after I had rec’d a good haircut and the pic from today.

BTW, if you ever get a really good haircut… take a pic.  This way if you go to someone new they’ll have a style to work from.

Lesson of the day.  If you don’t know what you’re doing…. do not try to highlight at home.  You’ll pay more having it fixed.

Maggie’s speaking engagement

Our 7 year old daughter was invited to recite poetry at the Federal Reserve Houston Branch during an award ceremony.  Each year the Federal Reserve has an essay contest where High School juniors and seniors throughout the country compete.  It is to promote writing and speaking around economics.

Maggie recited two poems that could be tied to economics.  God gives each person/child special gifts.  Maggie has been given a remarkable gift of public speaking and memorization.  She can remember long passages and recite flawlessly to large crowds of adults.  Pics are also below.

Robert Louis Stevenson  – Where Go the Boats?

Dark brown is the river.
Golden is the sand.
It flows along for ever,
With trees on either hand.

Green leaves a-floating,
Castles of the foam,
Boats of mine a-boating—
Where will all come home?

On goes the river
And out past the mill,
Away down the valley,
Away down the hill.

Away down the river,
A hundred miles or more,
Other little children
Shall bring my boats ashore.

WYNKEN, BLYNKEN, AND NOD

by: Eugene Field (1850-1895)

• YNKEN, Blynken, and Nod one night

  Sailed off in a wooden shoe,–

  Sailed on a river of crystal light

  Into a sea of dew.

  “Where are you going, and what do you wish?”

  The old moon asked the three.

  “We have come to fish for the herring-fish

  That live in this beautiful sea;

  Nets of silver and gold have we,”

  Said Wynken,

  Blynken,

  And Nod.

  The old moon laughed and sang a song,

  As they rocked in the wooden shoe;

  And the wind that sped them all night long

  Ruffled the waves of dew;

  The little stars were the herring-fish

  That lived in the beautiful sea.

  “Now cast your nets wherever you wish,–

  Never afeard are we!”

  So cried the stars to the fishermen three,

  Wynken,

  Blynken,

  And Nod.

  All night long their nets they threw

  To the stars in the twinkling foam,–

  Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,

  Bringing the fishermen home:

  ‘T was all so pretty a sail, it seemed

  As if it could not be;

  And some folk thought ‘t was a dream they’d dreamed

  Of sailing that beautiful sea;

  But I shall name you the fishermen three:

  Wynken,

  Blynken,

  And Nod.

  Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,

  And Nod is a little head,

  And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies

  Is a wee one’s trundle-bed;

  So shut your eyes while Mother sings

  Of wonderful sights that be,

  And you shall see the beautiful things

  As you rock on the misty sea

  Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three,–

  Wynken,

  Blynken,

  And Nod.